The axles are installed in the snout, which is splined to accept the axle shafts. The unit consists of a snout and a ring flange.
Due to their unwieldy nature, we recommend spools as an outstanding choice for dedicated off-road and drag racing vehicles only.Ī full spool replaces the carrier, spider, and sides gears. You can roam the online forums and the street-worthiness of a spool-equipped vehicle is a long-raging debate. Further, a spooled driveline can be unforgiving driving on wet/snowy roads as it lacks the finesse to handle conditions that call for the management of different wheel speeds to ensure vehicle stability and control. In most cases, running a spool will compromise the turning radius of the vehicle. There is a cause-and-effect scenario going on here.
In the long term, axles can bent out of shape because of the torsional stress they are subjected to on the street. Simply put, spools chew up tires.Īnother compromise is how the binding within the differential also produces undue stress on the axles themselves. One should also remember even when not pushed to the level of chirping, any imbalance in wheel speed is scrubbed off by the tires resulting in tire wear. In doing so tires absorb a lot of abuse in the form of significant wear. It’s what gives to allow the vehicle to maneuver. When this happens the tires chirp, sometimes aggressively, as they struggle to complete the turn. Since the axles are locked there is no allowance for situations where the tires need to spin at a different speed… i.e. They create a solid axle.Īs with any drastic, all-in type of modification there are compromises along the way. Each attains the same objective, ensuring both drive wheels on a given axle receive full torque and rotate at the same speed all the time. There are two types of spools: full spools and mini spools. If you are only going to run 31" tires, you should never have any problems with this setup as long as you run the Jeep.Spools are all about getting full lockup on a budget… 100% lockup 100% of the time.
If I were you, I would go with some sort of "lunch box" locker (see above) and start saving for some new Superior axle shafts for your rear axle. I didn't do any rock crawling with that Jeep, just mild trails and some mud and snow. At the end of the 2 years I did have a bent axle shaft, but I think that was more due to the 32" tires than the locker. I had a Lock-Rite in a YJ with a 35c rear axle and 32" tires for 2 years and didn't have any problems with it.
If you are a qualified mechanic you can go to the "full carrier" lockers (Detroit Locker, ARB, etc.) but it sounds like you are on a budget, so I won't talk about those.Īs far as whether it will hold up or not, it really depends on you, the driver.
The first time I even SAW the spider gears in my differential was when I pulled the cover to install my locker. These lockers just replace the spider gears inside the differential and can be done in an afternoon by anyone that can follow directions and has turned a wrench before. If you are looking for an inexpensive, but practical solution, you could do a Lock-Rite or similar "lunch box" automatic locker. If you are looking for the cheapest way periord, you could weld the spider gears in the rear, but it will be horrible driving on the road around town.